Resist Inaction

Once you’ve made your list, RESIST THE URGE TO PUT OFF SENDING INTRO EMAILS. This is hugely important. You are going to want to wait, you’re going to make up excuses for why now isn’t the right time, and you’ll allow yourself to get sidetracked. To resist this urge, remind yourself of the following:

It doesn’t need to be perfect. Your emails don’t have to be artisanal, hand-crafted ideals of eloquence and tact – they just have to get the point across. And you’ve done enough of these that you can have a draft put together in short order.

You have nothing to lose. Don’t fall into the trap of talking yourself out of reaching out, or convincing yourself that something is too much of a long shot. Your circumstances are not as fixed as you think – be willing to try for something that seems out of reach.

There is a high cost to inaction. You’ve seen so many examples, whether in real life (when Laszlo said he put of reaching out only to find that he missed an opportunity to interview by just a week) or in illustrative cases (Eric Peterson). Practice being proactive, and being persistent.

Remember that if you aren’t failing and getting turned down on reg, you aren’t reaching high enough.